These are my favorite tools and resources for learning how to read tarot cards – and how to them for creativity and problem-solving in your everyday life. Everything on this page is something I’ve used and loved myself, or created just for you.
The Simple Tarot is a business but I give most of the information and resources away for free. I’m able to do this because of affiliate links, like the ones on this page. Read my affiliate & disclosure policy here.
TOOLS TO LEARN THE TAROT CARD MEANINGS
Get the (totally free) PDF printable Simple Tarot Cheat Sheet here. If you want to upgrade to the full Tarot Cheat Sheet with the Reversed (upside-down) meanings, you’ll be able to start reading all of your tarot card spreads immediately. Then, bookmark this Tarot Card Meanings page. It is basically an Index that links to the tarot card meanings for each of the 78 cards.
Practice with your tarot deck daily. It doesn’t have to be hard or take a lot of time. Use The Daily Tarot – it’s like a daily tarot-scope full of advice for the day ahead, and you can get it delivered right to your inbox.
If you want to dive even deeper, check out The Secret Library of Tarot Spreads for all of the PDF printable tarot spreads I’ve created. There are over 50 different tarot spreads, so you’ll never run out of ways to use your cards!
THE TAROT DECKS I RECOMMEND THE MOST TO BEGINNERS
I hope you have The Simple Tarot Deck! But if you don’t love the modern, minimal style of The Simple Tarot, you still have options.
For beginners, I strongly recommend a deck based on the Rider-Waite-Smith symbolism, like the Rider-Waite deck from U.S. Games or the Llewellyn’s Classic Tarot deck. I personally prefer the images on the Llewellyn’s Classic deck, but the U.S. Games Rider-Waite deck is more popular. The Simple Tarot Deck uses the same symbols as the Rider-Waite and the Llewellyn’s Classic decks, but is more modern in all ways.
For learning how to read reversed (upside-down) cards: The Revelations Tarot Deck – Many people struggle to learn and remember the meanings for reversed cards. This deck is designed to make it easier by showing the upright AND reversed meaning on each card. It’s ingenious! For more info, here’s a full review of this deck.
THE DECKS I’M CURRENTLY USING MYSELF
Surprise, surprise…I use my copy of The Simple Tarot Deck (the Classic version, without the keywords) every morning for my daily draw. I LOVE this deck – it suits my minimal, colorful, friendly style and I always get simple, clear readings from it.
The Linestrider Tarot – This is the deck I use with my tarot journal when I want to go deep. I LOVE the illustration style and always get clever, witty, and useful readings when I use it. Here’s a full review (with images).
The Wild Unknown – This is one of the most popular decks in the tarot community and for good reason. I use this deck when I want a careful, deep, and thoughtful reading. It’s not for beginners and it strays a bit from the R-W tradition, but it’s still wonderful to read. Here’s a full review.
TAROT JOURNALING TOOLS
Fancy Journals & Paper: – Okay, this might be weird, but I use a daily planner as a record-my-thoughts-every-day journal. I am obsessed with my Hobonichi Cousin because of the Tomoe River paper – it’s super thin, but it holds ink so well and doesn’t ghost. You can use it with watercolors even! It’s perfect for my fountain pens, and it’s got a small grid that makes me feel nerdy and organized. I feel guilty every year for spending so much $$$ on a simple notebook, but it really is worth the money. There’s nothing else out there like it.
Fountain Pens & Ink: Goulet Pens – I’m a fountain pen junkie. I love the inexpensive LAMY Safari. Other people must love it, too, because it gets stolen All The Time. (Fountain pen thieves, who knew?)
Currently, I’m obsessed about using a gray ink with gold sparkles for writing and a rusty pink ink for editing. They make me feel fancy.
Tarot Daily Planner: The Undated Tarot Daily Planner – This is the planner I use every day to record my life & business To Do items. It’s pretty simple, but it gets the job done!
BOOKS
I read obsessively, and widely, so there are far too many books to put here! But these are the ones I go back to again and again.
These books aren’t about tarot specifically, but they have all helped my life in the same way that reading tarot cards has – by opening up my world and making me see things (i.e. myself) with new eyes.
Books about money: Your Money or Your Life got me looking at money (and time, energy, and life) differently and now I feel in control. The Total Money Makeover is a little too God-focused for me, but it got me to pay off $40,000 worth of debt, so I know the system works. And I LOVE everything written by Barbara Stanny.
(Not a book, but YNAB has 100% changed my money life – it’s so much more than budgeting software. If you’re struggling to feel confident about your financial situation, You Need a YNAB!)
Books about relationships: The Five Love Languages and Attached helped me understand myself and my partners in simple language with actionable steps to make relationships better. Too Good to Leave, To Bad to Stay helped me get out of a bad relationship (and I recommend it All The Time to my friends). And The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work is incredible for any relationship – not just romantic ones.
Books about work and creativity: The Artist’s Way legit changed my life. I went from being an unhappy non-writing wannabe-writer to someone who writes every day with joy. The Four Hour Workweek has a click-baity title, but it’s actually quite good. It shifted my thinking radically and is one of the reasons I’m able to travel full time and live this life I love. I read The War of Art at least four times a year. It’s a necessary bible for anyone who makes art or things for a living.
Other books I love: I’m a HUGE fan of Alexandre Dumas and Rafael Sabatini, but my favorite modern writer is Katherine Rundell. Her books are written for children, but they hit adult emotions HARD. I’m also getting into epic fantasy, modern thrillers, and historical biographies. If you have the same tastes, share some recommendations with me on Goodreads.
OTHER STUFF
If this website or any of The Simple Tarot resources have been helpful or if you have questions that you can’t find the answers to elsewhere, please reach out and let me know. This website isn’t just my job – it’s an obsession and I love every bit of it.
But it doesn’t exist without you, so please let me know if you find it valuable.
Your support means the world to me, and every little bit helps! If you’d like to support The Simple Tarot, you can help by following and sharing the Facebook Page, checking me out on Instagram, sharing the posts on Pinterest, or just sharing these tarot resources with your friends.
And if you have any tarot-related questions or want to reach out to chat about the cards, just send me an email. I’d love to hear from you!